Biography and Articles

Being an LDS woman in Palestine

Someone requested that I share my thoughts about being a Mormon woman in Palestine.

First,
I feel I need to explain where Palestine is, as I still see people
confused about it. Palestine and Israel are the same place. Some think
Palestine is by Israel and there is conflict going on between the two.
That is not true. The below map shows what happened in Palestine over the years:

My
country Palestine ceased to exist in 1967. Before 1948 Jews in
Palestine lived mostly in the white areas, but everyone in the country
was allowed to travel freely. Both people lived together side by side.
In 1947 the British gave part of Palestine to the Jews so they can make
it their home. In 1967, the Jews occupied the whole country of Palestine
and it became what we know now as the State of Israel. The flag
changed, the currency changed and everything changed. My country,
Palestine was not recognized anymore. It was no longer valid to say I am
'Palestinian'. There was no such thing. I still refer to the country
as Palestine, some refer to it as Israel, but the bottom line is, it is
one place. What you call it depends on whose side you are on. Actually,
our church district here which was called the "Israel District" was
just changed a short while ago to the "Jerusalem District" because the
LDS church does not take sides. We
(the Palestinian Arabs) still live here in Palestine/Israel under
Israeli occupation. We are not citizens of the State of Israel, nor do
we have the rights Israelis have. During the wars also half of my people
became refugees (lost their homes and land). Some are not allowed to
return back to Palestine even for a visit. Those of us that still live
here have little human rights. (Read my blog post on human rights
written in June, 2014 for more info: Palestinian Human Rights).
This is the reason of the conflict. Not the Hamas rockets nor the
attacks on Gaza. We, the Palestinians living here, are fighting to have
the basic necessities of life: Running water, freedom to travel, the
right for a just trial, the right to raise our flag, the right to live
in safety...etc.

Most
Arabs/Palestinians in Palestine are now allowed to live only in the
green areas (see the map above). This is 8% of the original land of
Palestine. This 8% as you can see in the picture above is not connected
sometimes. It is actually often surrounded by walls and checkpoints. (a
20-foot concrete wall, as you see in the picture below of me at the
entrance to the Bethlehem checkpoint).

Those
living in Bethlehem, like me, are not allowed into Jerusalem and other
'white'/Israeli areas. I was actually born in Jerusalem, but am not
allowed to go there. Nor am I allowed to travel to the Galilee, Nazareth
and other holy sites. I am not allowed into the only airport in my
country (Tel-Aviv Airport). I can only leave the country by land through
Jordan. Palestinians
living here don't hate the Jews nor do they hate the Israelis, but we
do hate what the Israeli government is doing to us. It is unjust, unfair
and basically not human sometimes. Anyway, maybe that is enough on
politics. Let me share my story...I
was raised as a Christian in a town called Beit Sahour, close to
Bethlehem. Despite the fact that I was Christian, I did not understand
many essential gospel principles. Christians are a minority in my
country, like 2% or so. But, the town where I grew up was mostly
Christian (80% Christian). There is a limited portion of those
Christians, however, who attend church and practice Christianity. For
some, their religion and what church they belong to is more of a culture
than a belief. I belonged to the Greek Orthodox Church because my
parents did.

Living
as a Palestinian was hard. As a teenager I went on demonstrations
against the Israeli occupation. I saw many from my people get shot,
beaten, arrested or killed often for no reason. I was even shot at when I
was 14 years old by an Israeli settler. We were under curfew (house
arrest) a lot during the first and second uprising. My life as a
Palestinian was so miserable that I often wanted to die. I saw many
relatives and friends lose their faith in God as they witnessed the
injustices and pain all around them.

I
received a scholarship to BYU to obtain a Master’s degree in 1994. I
was discouraged from going to BYU by many friends and family members.
Yet I felt the Holy Ghost prompting me to go.

I
joined the LDS church in Utah in 1996 and returned back to Palestine
that year. Joining the church brought into my life a kind of peace and
joy that I had never before experienced. I did not know what peace was
and what it was like to be really happy. Those were new feelings that
came into my life.

I
faced some persecution when I got back home. It was mostly because
being different was not acceptable. Sometimes people in my town would
refuse to associate with those who belonged to ‘different’ religions
like Jehova’s Witnesses and others. Even though quite a few Christians
don’t practice Christianity or understand basic principles of what their
own church believes they still want everyone to belong to the same
church they do. I did get critical remarks from people, especially from
family members, often. “Are you going to Heaven because you don’t drink
tea? How can you betray your family and destroy their reputation in
town? How can you let the Mormons brain wash you? I thought you were
smarter than this!...etc”

When
I returned home from BYU I was not aware of any other members in the
Bethlehem area. I was the only member of the church in my family and the
only LDS woman in the whole area. The only branch at the time was the
Jerusalem Branch that met at the Jerusalem Center. Since Palestinians
living in the West Bank are not allowed into Jerusalem, attending church
services was challenging. I had to sneak into Jerusalem to go to
Church.

Sometimes
I would manage to get through the Israeli checkpoints and other times I
would climb hills and walls, hide from soldiers and take back roads to
get to church. The trip would take 2-3 hours each way. As time went
by, getting to church got harder and harder until it became almost
impossible and very dangerous (I got shot at, almost raped and was nearly arrested once).

For
these reasons being a Palestinian Mormon was somewhat hard--persecution
and restrictions preventing me from attending church services and being
with other members. Yet being a member of the church helped me find
real happiness and peace. During the 14 years when I sneaked in to go to
church I felt happy. I felt the Holy Ghost comfort me and strengthen
me. I was lifted by my Heavenly Father and often literally carried to
church as I saw miracles happen to help me get to church. By joining the
church I had become a different person and saw things through different
eyes. I was able to forgive and love the Israeli soldiers and that
feeling was liberating. I was able to let go of anger and hate and thus
was able to have personal peace. I believe that this is the only way to
peace in this country, forgiveness, love and respect for others.

After
14 years of sneaking into Jerusalem to go to church, I was blessed with
a job with the UN in Jerusalem. That job provided me with the proper
papers so I can enter Jerusalem freely. A few years after that, we were
all blessed when a branch of the church was organized in Bethlehem.

There
are now 4 main branches of the church in Palestine/Israel: Jerusalem,
Galilee, Tel-Aviv and Bethlehem. The Jerusalem branch is mostly
constituted of BYU students and faculty with very few local members.
The locals struggle due to the complete turnover every semester when all
the BYU students leave. The Galilee branch is very small and many
members live far from the meeting house and thus can’t attend services
due to the unavailability of public transportation on the Sabbath. The
Tel-Aviv branch as well contains few local members of the church. The
majority are in Tel-Aviv area because of work for a short time.

Because
of the current restrictions on Palestinians, Palestinian members like
me cannot travel to any of the other branches (unless they have an
Israeli citizenship—very few). So, all Palestinians living anywhere in
the West Bank or Gaza belong to the Bethlehem branch (even if they live
15 minutes away from one of the other branches). I go to church at the
Bethlehem branch. Our Branch covers the entire West Bank and Gaza areas.
Because of the separation wall and checkpoints, the distance members
have to travel to get to church is often far. We have members that live 4
hours away, some 2 hours, some 1 hour from the meeting house…Those
members are often the only LDS people in their town. Visiting and home
teaching is a challenge especially as many members in our branch are
poor and don’t have cars. Because of that members often don’t have the
support they need from other members and from the church. Most members
in the Bethlehem Branch, like me, joined the church in other countries
and returned home to Palestine as members.

Another
issue we have is that we don’t currently have strong Palestinian
members of the church in our branch. Thus, the branch president is
usually American. This produces two main issues. First is the language,
as our Branch President can’t communicate with many members without the
help of a translator. Second, our branch president has to follow BYU
rules which prevent him from traveling freely to Bethlehem and other
Palestinian cities. He is not allowed to visit members in their home.
This has nothing to do with safety issues as Bethlehem is much safer
than Jerusalem (in case you were wondering). There are reasons that BYU
has that I am not aware of.

If
you live in the West Bank, living your faith and keeping the
commandments is different for you. You are alone, often the only one in
your town, and you are the only representative of the church in your
area. A lot depends on you; how you act, how you live and what you
choose to do every day is essential.

Here
we don’t keep our faith, our faith keeps us going. As the support is
lacking from a strong church organization and from strong church
members, our hearts and minds often turn to God. Heavenly Father is
someone who is always there for us. I have been able to find strength
and have found support from the Lord often during difficult times in my
life. He has literally carried me and I have felt His loving arms often
surround me.

What
we really need in the Bethlehem Branch are strong members who speak
Arabic. We need especially people who hold the priesthood that are
willing to serve. We need those who can be good examples on how a
husband should treat his wife and how to be a good father. We need those
that can live in Bethlehem, get to know the people and culture and
serve to strengthen the members here. We need visiting and home teachers
that are willing to travel far distances to visit people. I don’t see
that happening unless we start getting missionaries who live here and
speak Arabic. The church signed an agreement with Israel regarding
teaching Jews. However, as part of that agreement we are not allowed to
talk about the church to anyone (Jew or non-Jew). I have had many
friends who are interested in our church and I wish I could explain to
them and teach them. I hope that someday we would be able to teach
Palestinians and non-Jews living in Palestine the gospel. I don’t think
that breaks our agreement with the Israeli government, but of course
this requires study and effort. Palestinians have been through a lot,
they are humble and ready to be taught the gospel. We should seek
recognition as a church here and start teaching the Palestinians. This
is my dream…

6 comments:

Thank you for your perspective and for your strong faith. As a Jewish Israeli who joined the Church, my heart also longs for the day when all people in Israel and Palestine will be able to hear the message of the restored gospel. It longs for a day when our two nations can peacefully exist in brotherhood. That seems almost unattainable right now, but I do believe in a God of miracles.

I feel it is tragic people can't just get along, as my mom used to say. People should be seen as people, not all these different categories. My prayers will be with you, my dear sister. Maybe we'll meet one day on this side of the Veil. I have a sweet friend living there who is 28 with a young family of three daughters, she is Muslim and I'm LDS. 😊 Very nice to meet you!

Your testimony is so strong, dear sister. Thank you for sharing it. I will remember your country in my prayers. My children and I like to view the maps of wards/stakes all over the globe. I remember seeing that Israel/Palestine had three; then four. I pray for the day a temple will be built there by amazing Saints, such as yourself. I had no idea how hard it is for you all to be active LDS. May Father send you priesthood holders to lead your wards and branches.

I am so glad I found your blog. I'm married to a Palestinian man. His parents came to the US after the 67 war. He also is from a Christian background. His siblings and he joined the church in new York when he was a teenager. I look forward to reading more about your experiences.

My heart was torn as i read this. On one hand i am so sorry dor the hardshio you experience both as lds and as a palestinian. On thw other i am so amazed at your courage and faith. Thank you for sharing part of your life. I lived in the middle east for most of my childhood and greatly admire many of the palestinian people. You will be in my prayers.